


Rewriting the Story

by tin2lo



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Post Series, Reincarnation, Zutara Week, Zutara Week 2016, slight kataang mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 20:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12197226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tin2lo/pseuds/tin2lo
Summary: While exploring the library in the spirit world, Aang has a profound conversation with Wan Shi Tong about love, reincarnation, and destiny.





	Rewriting the Story

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Zutara Week 2016
> 
> Day 2: Reincarnation

_“We know everything!  Past, present, and future…indoor plumbing, it’s gonna be big!”_

_-_ The Fates from Disney’s  _Hercules_

“This can’t be right!”  Aang yelled as he looked through the final chapter of the book he was currently reading.  After making sure the world was at peace, Aang had spent a lot of time in the Spirit World, where he happened upon Wan Shi Tong’s library once more.

Won Shi Tong looked over Aang’s shoulder to see what had got him upset.  “Ahh, I see you’ve managed to find the never ending story of the two lovers.”

“I don’t understand.  Why are Zuko and Katara part of the last chapter?”  Aang was distressed.  Here he was just reading one of the oldest stories in existence and he happens upon the names of one of his best friends and the girl he was in love with.

“The last chapter of a story is always just the beginning of the next,”  the great librarian said without much change in tone.

“But Zuko…and Katara…”

Wan Shi Tong rolled his eyes.  “One would think the Avatar of all people would know a thing or two about reincarnation.”

“Reincarnation?”  Aang looked at the giant owl with an even more confused look.  “But that would mean…Zuko and Katara…”  Aang couldn’t bring himself to say it.  The thought of Zuko and Katara as reincarnated lovers?  He couldn’t wrap his head around it.  It couldn’t be true, especially not when Zuko had Mai and Katara loved Aang.  She did love him, right?  But then again, she never looked at him the way she looked at Zuko.  No!  He couldn’t think that way.

“You obviously haven’t been paying attention to what it was you’ve been reading”  Wan Shi Tong said in an even angrier tone.  He took the book from Aang and flipped it back to the beginning.  “This is the story of the two lovers.  Since the beginning of time, they have been destined to find each other and fall in love.”  He began flipping the pages.  “Their names, events, and details always change.  But the story always remains the same.”

“What do you mean ‘never ending story’?”  Aang asked as he chose to ignore the “falling in love” aspect of his two friends.

“Humans have a way of ruining anything pure.”  The librarian said in aggravated annoyance.  “If you paid any attention to what you read, you would’ve noticed that none of the stories ended well.  Something always comes between the two lovers: death, war…”  Wan Shi Tong looked Aang straight in the eyes.  “…another lover.  And every time they don’t end up together, the story ends and the cycle starts over once more.  Two lovers, always connected, always linked…never to be together,”  he said as he was turning away.

The thought of that actually hurt Aang’s heart.  As much as he loved Katara, no one deserved to go through heartbreak over thousands of lifetimes.  And he would know.  He had lived a thousand lifetimes himself.  He couldn’t imagining living all those lives constantly losing the one he held dear.

“So you’re saying, if Zuko and Katara don’t have their happy ending, they’ll just be reincarnated?”

Wan Shi Tong didn’t even turn around.  “Reincarnated to do the exact same thing in the next life.  Just like a wheel…on and on it’ll spin.  Constant and predictable.”

Aang looked at the book in front of him.  “But what if I could change that?”  He whispered mostly to himself.

The great owl let out a malicious laugh.  “Change a story that his been going on for thousands of years?  Look in front of you, Avatar.  Their story is already in the making.  A story they will be cursed with until the end of time.  And you think you can change that?”

Aang abruptly stood up.  “But I can!”  

In a blink of an eye, Wan Shi Tong turned and was an inch away from Aang’s face, his glare menacing.  “Don’t think yourself so high and mighty, Avatar.  You’re nothing but another detail, a problem, an obstacle.  It is you who contributes to this sad story of failed love, not I.”  He calmed down and backed up a bit.  “I can only see how this particular story will play out.”

Wan Shi Tong began to sound tired.  As if the burdens of his years as a spirit were finally weighing down on him.  “I know many things, Avatar.  The past, the present, even what will happen in years to come.  That’s because humans are such a predictable species.  So easy to read, as if you were your own book.”  He once again moved towards Aang.  “I can look into your eyes and see what will become of you.  I can tell you about the three children you will one day have and how you will neglect two of them for a reason as stupid as bending preferences.  Or how your wife, the woman you will so selfishly keep from her true love, will become nothing more than a trophy forever lost inside your shadow.  Tell me, Avatar, do you really believe you can change a story that’s already being written?”

Aang never wavered.  “Yes,”  he said with strength and confidence.

His answer actually surprised Wan Shi Tong.  Never in his years did he see such selflessness from a human.  “Interesting.  You would actually try and rewrite their story?  Even if it meant taking yourself out of the equation?”

Aang didn’t once hesitate.  “Of course.”

Wan Shi Tong eyed him again, this time with a curious eye.  “But why?”

Aang just shrugged, trademark smile back on his face.  “People always do crazy things when they’re in love.”  He closed the book and bowed to the great spirit.  “I hope the next time we meet, I’ll have rewritten the ending to the story.”  With that, he turned around and left the spirit library before exiting the Spirit World altogether.

This avatar had baffled the librarian.  Wan Shi Tong wouldn’t admit it, but of the 10,000 things he knew, the path of this avatar was not one of them anymore.  Perhaps, this avatar would actually prove him wrong.  He’d have to wait and see.


End file.
